US soldier gets 8 yrs for Abu Ghraib abuse

In the deal with Army prosecutors, Frederick, who was in-charge of the night shift in the prison wing where detainees were abused, pleaded guilty to eight of 12 criminal counts, including charges he forced detainees to masturbate and helped attach wires to a detainee with the intention of making him think he might be electrocuted. The picture of that detainee—hooded, naked and standing on a box—was one of several that stirred an international scandal when they surfaced six months ago.

On Wednesday, Frederick, 38, told Pohl, that he knew he should not have been trying to scare the detainee. ‘‘I was wrong about what I did, and I shouldn’t have done it,’’ the Army reservist said. ‘‘I knew it was wrong at the time because I knew it was a form of abuse.’’ In the proceeding on Thursday, Army prosecutor Maj. Michael Holley told the court that it was a simple case of right and wrong.

Frederick’s lawyer, Myers, arguing for a lesser sentence, said that the Army itself should take some of the blame for what happened.

Frederick testified, military intelligence and civilian interrogators set the stage for the abuses. They ‘‘would tell us what conditions to set for them—keep their clothes, give them cigarettes.’’

Frederick said an Army investigator responsible for interrogations encouraged him to abuse one detainee, saying he didn’t care what was done to the prisoner ‘‘as long as you don’t kill him.’’ Seven members of the Army’s 372nd Military Police Company, based in Cresaptown, Md., have been charged in the scandal.

—(LAT-WP)